I fell in love with this song after buying the Graceland cassette on a business road trip in 1998 that started in Memphis and took me through parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. I listened to that tape a TON. Visited Graceland, too. When my first son was an infant, I found myself wanting to sing this as a lullaby, and I still sing it to my boys.

Under African SkiesPaul Simon

Joseph's face was black as night The pale yellow moon shone in his eyes His path was marked By the stars in the Southern Hemisphere And he walked his days Under African skies

This is the story of how we begin to remember This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein After the dream of falling and calling your name out These are the roots of rhythm And the roots of rhythm remain

In early memory Mission music Was ringing 'round my nursery door I said take this child, Lord From Tucson Arizona Give her the wings to fly through harmony And she won't bother you no more

This is the story of how we begin to remember This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein After the dream of falling and calling your name out These are the roots of rhythm And the roots of rhythm remain

Joseph's face was black as night And the pale yellow moon shone in his eyes His path was marked By the stars in the Southern Hemisphere And he walked the length of his days Under African skies

I hope to make this a recurring feature. Lullabies in our home are somewhat eclectic, varying among traditional selections, nontraditional yet understandable choices, original compositions, and an assortment of more unusual alternatives. A few years ago, when my older son was an infant, I started to collect lyrics to the songs we sang most frequently, as well as for those songs which we wanted to learn to sing. That project, like so many others, was abandoned...but now becomes the first to be picked up here.

Tonight, I sang two songs. The first is a standing request, a song which my firstborn and I made up together about a year ago. He calls it "If You Leave the Door Open" and it is always the opening song at bedtime. The first verse was half crafted by my son, and half by me, and always goes:

If you leave the door openA mouse will come inAnd eat all the cheddar cheese.When he's done, He'll ask for more,So you'll teach him to say "please".

The tune is simplistic and repetitive, which lends itself to a lullaby. ;) The rest of the verses all start "if you leave the door open," after which another animal or a person we know comes in and does something that rhymes on the third and sixth lines. Who enters and what they do changes nearly every night. Some nights we have a litany of people with whom we visited that day. Some nights a parade of animals enters our unlocked front door and empties the fridge. Other nights, the same mouse returns for verse after verse of fun, in the manner of Laura Joffe Numeroff's classic and oft-imitated book. I have ideas for turning our mouse's tale into a book of its own. We shall see if that ever happens.

On a less original note, our second song tonight was one of my favorites, Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors". It may not have been written for a child, but it sounds lovely to me. Despite loving the song for decades, I somehow don't know the lyrics yet, and hummed/mumbled a good half of the song or more. So here they are:

You with the sad eyes
don't be discouraged
oh I realize
it's hard to take courage
in a world full of people
you can lose sight of it all
and the darkness inside you
can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors
shining through
I see your true colors
and that's why I love you
so don't be afraid to let them show
your true colors
true colors are beautiful
like a rainbow

Show me a smile then
don't be unhappy, can't remember
when I last saw you laughing
if this world makes you crazy
and you've taken all you can bear
you call me up
because you know I'll be there

And I'll see your true colors
shining through
I see your true colors
and that's why I love you
so don't be afraid to let them show
your true colors
true colors are beautiful
like a rainbow

Hmm, ok, I'll grant you, maybe that's a little depressing. But still very very pretty. Maybe I can rework the darker stuff (which I hummed anyway).